Sweeties

Found these cute & delicious sweets at a patisserie in Versailles. Don't they have just beautiful soft colours?

They are way too good, loads of sugar I guess... But they do make a nice picture, don't they?

The serving tray, by the way, is made by the people from APIS, a social project I used to work with in Brazil. Love the colours!

Have a colourful weekend!!

Project Runway...

No project Runway... wishful thinking!

No. This is Project Curtains. For the bedroom.

Since we moved, we've had some curtains in our bedroom, but never to my full satisfaction.

Decided already a long time ago to use some black & white curtains I had from the living room in our previous house (which I couldn't use in our new house because the dimensions were totally wrong). So finally, I tackled the project. Cut. Sew. It took only 4 months...

Will show the result when all is done, ok?

And what about the World Cup? Do you watch it? The Netherlands won their first match! & today we'll cheer for Brazil of course!

Wish you a cheerful day!

Gardening & more

Yes, I will paint the wall (& probably the fireplace too), but not today... it's such a gorgeous day & I want to spend it outside...

The garden is waiting for me...

As the hobby of the previous renters of this house definitely wasn't gardening, there's a whole lot of work to do... So I leave you today with some pictures of our garden (the back yard), as I've been asked not only to talk about it but to show it too... so here it is:

And when the work is done, I hope we'll be able to spend a cozy evening on the terrace...

... with a nice diner & with Thom back from his extended field trip (he spent 5 days in Bretagne!!)

I wish you all a lovely & sunny weekend, enjoy!

Shall I or shall I not...

paint the wall in 'framboise sauvage' & the fire place in white (or black)?

This wall is still a bit boring, so

any advice is welcome!

And even more flowers...

After a weekend spent at Roland Garros this week it's time to take care of house & garden again.

I discovered a beautiful rose, pretty pink, next to the drive way to our garage. We hardly use our garage on a daily basis, it's more like a huge storage room (!!), actually we only go in & out with our bikes (weather permitted) and with our trash containers. So not the best spot for such a beautiful rose...
But to enjoy the beauty & the scent of this rose, I cut some and put them in a vase. Now I can enjoy them every minute!

And what about this lovely orchid? It's next to me, on my desk, and I'm admiring it every day too!

And yes, I was lucky: there still was something available at the travel agency! Not that much, but I could book a week in this gorgeous villa in Moliets, on the Atlantic coast, a much preferred area of us! Less touristic than the Cote d'Azur & really beautiful! Looking forward to spending some time here in August. Still looking for some nice hotels or chateaux to stay the week before, on our way to Moliets, don't worry, will find them!

Ok, enough admiration now, duty calls: the lawn needs some mowing, the terrace definitely needs some treatment (high pressure, that's for sure), the kitchen garden will need some hours too, and then I'm not even talking about the house duties...

See you soon!!

X Chantal

Flowers!

A new house, a new garden... so the first spring is always a question mark... at what time will the sun be at what side of the house, where will plants appear, how big are they, colours, etc.?

Well, we have a lot of old trees in our garden, a big, hilly plot of lawn and not so many flowers, unfortunately.

Living in a rental for some years asks for some creativity...

We love a nice garden, but if we want to make it the way we really like it, it will cost a fortune and we'll probably be out already when the final result of our work will show up!

So we decided to create a nice atmosphere around the terrace and leave the rest of the garden for what it is: a woodland (pretty nice view too, by the way)!

Not finished yet but it starts to be something I like to see (big vases with white Oleander, so pretty)!

Inside we need flowers too, don't we? So here are some lovely peonies from the flower market.

Peonies, one of my favorite flowers!

And now off to the travel agency, let's see if I can still find a nice holiday spot for August...

Fingers crossed!

Take care,

Chantal

Our own little kitchen garden!

We got some strawberry plants and little sprouts of lathyrus not so long ago and they grow like crazy! Shortly we'll have our own fresh strawberries... can't wait!
Thom was so excited about it all that we decided to enlarge our hortus! But as our garden is pretty tough to work in, we chose for a kitchen garden in pots & vases instead. So we planted little sprouts of cucumber, tomato, bell pepper, melon, broccoli and several salads. We also added some seeds of roquette and ipomea.
Thom is the care taker here, so he's the one to do the planting & watering. Although it seems pretty difficult to me to stay out of this 'project'!!

And you know what? Just realised that summer holidays are only 4 weeks away... yeah!

Have a great & sunny weekend (we'll have a long weekend again) & enjoy your garden, balcony, window view, etc.!! I'm off to the market now for some bread & flowers.
Chantal

La Tour Eiffel

Paris...

full of zinc roofs...

aren't they just gorgeous?

(I used to be in the zinc business, way back...)

This is the view from the 1st floor of the Eiffel Tower

Unfortunately we'd chosen a rainy & cloudy evening to go to the top (ca. 300 meters high), but nevertheless, it was spectacular!!

Ecole Militaire

Trocadero

      

No explanation needed!

a blurry picture, made while driving, but it has a mysterious touch, don't you think?

Even though we've seen La Tour Eiffel so often, every time we drive into the city from the west, my heart makes a little jump by seeing it appear again!

By the way, is the sun out there too? Enjoy it, as long as it lasts!!

Chantal

Mooie taart!

(Only in Dutch this time, it's about a friend of mine who bakes & makes all kinds of delicious & beautiful cakes and she delivers only in the Netherlands, sorry!)

Voor deze ene keer een verhaaltje in het Nederlands aangezien deze Taartenengel niet buiten Nederland bezorgd.
Stond de vorige post de cake nog in de spotlight, dit keer gaat het om taart. En niet zomaar taart:

Deze taart is gemaakt door De Taartenengel, is het geen juweeltje? Je kunt zelf deeg & vulling bepalen, en dan af laten werken op de  manier die je zelf wilt!
Bovenstaand taartje heb ik laten bezorgen bij een jarige vriendin die nogal heimwee had/heeft naar Brazilië. En dus de Taartenengel gebeld en een paar dagen later zorgden zee, strand & taart voor een glimlach op het gezicht van m'n vriendin.
Kijk maar eens op de site... het water zal je in de mond lopen!
Je bent gewaarschuwd!

Fijne dag!
Chantal

So sweet!

Here I am, enjoying a piece of banana-nut-bread and a latte macchiato, whereas I should be working, cleaning, making the beds, grocery shopping, etc. Friends are arriving tonight to stay a couple of nights with us. I'm really looking forward to it!
I have made this banana-nut bread ( a recipe I received from a friend)  over & over & it's always a hit.
With so many guests lately I have varied between making this cake and/or a tarte tatin. But I would love to read the recipees of your favorite bakes. I could use some new élan to my baking for our future guests!

Here's the cake recipe:

Ingredients:
6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup of sugar
2 or 3 very ripe bananas, coarsely mashed
3 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup of buttermilk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, etc.

Directions:
Preheat an oven to 350 °F, grease and lightly flour a 9-by-5 inch loaf pan.
In the bowl of an electric mixer with the flat beater, beat together  butter & sugar on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add the bananas and eggs & beat until smooth. Add the buttermilk and beat just until combined.
In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, salt and nuts. Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and beat just until combined. The batter should be slightly lumpy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until the loaf is dark golden brown, 55 to 60 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean. Let the bread rest in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn the loaf onto a wire rack and let cool. The icing is optional!

Bon appétit!
Chantal